Pasta bowls, yarn bowls, a bottle/vase and a strainer

Last night was a bit like Christmas. I got a lot out of the kiln. The bowls above are for a friend out in Texas. I wasn't too happy with all the gold specks that came out on them, but it is the nature of the glaze (when it cools down too slowly) and well, my friend likes them. Hooray!

My newest yarn bowls came out and for once, did not collapse. Yes, I have finally figured out how to make these things. I should be getting one more out in this week's firing.

Above is a big ole strainer for a friend who is moving to Austin. She gave me all of her left over clay, so I decided to use it to make something for her. She wanted a strainer for when she makes lasagna, so there you go. Big strainer.

Then, I decided to try to throw 7 lbs at one time. It was not easy and I'm not as happy with the final result. I think that I will continue to stack columns of clay when I want to throw big. It's easier on my body and for me, easier to control the clay.

A strainer and a vase/bottle

A friend in the pottery class is moving, and she gave me her clay. Not wanting the clay to go to waste, I made a few things for her that she wanted. Above is a rather large bowl made from about 6 lbs of clay. It will be a pasta strainer once it is trimmed and poked with holes.

Then, I made a bulby vase for her too. This is my effort to throw a little over 7 lbs at once. I prefer to stack my clay when I make big things. I get more height when I do that. Still, it's good to challenge myself on occasion.

I also threw 4 four pound plates for APE, a show in October. As much as I like my little plates, it is going to take a lot of plates to make up some value. So, I decided on a bit bigger plates and I will use a few main colors (black, blue, red and maybe some green) that I know won't burn out at cone 10. Yellows, pinks and such lose their brilliance at cone 10 (2345 degrees F). Small plates will be fired to cone 5 (2100-2200 degrees F).